Steve Coogan Gets Plenty of 'Ahas!' at Philomena's BFI Screening

Despite the Partridge fans, this red carpet walk was for a film of high drama.

Perhaps it’s testament to the timeless power of Steve Coogan’s character, Alan Partridge, that people can’t stop quoting his most famous catchphrase, but last night, when the actor was on the red carpet for his latest movie Philomena, the ‘Ahas!’ just kept coming.

It didn’t help that his previous film was Alpha Papa, which saw Alan Partridge become the pride of Norfolk if he wasn’t already – with his involvement in an incredibly newsworthy radio station siege.

Philomena, though, isn’t a comedy; it tells the touching story of a political journalist (Coogan) who feels compelled to help a women search for her long lost son after she was forced to live in a convent. This woman – the titular character, Philomena – is played by Dame Judi Dench, who posed alongside Coogan on the red carpet.

“Philomena is an exceptional woman and this story is about her fortitude, and her strength and her faith,” she said of the woman behind the true story. “If we were all as strong in our convictions as Philomena then we wouldn't have much to worry about." (Mail Online)

So far, the film has been a hit with the critics. “We prepared ourselves for an emotional explosion-not for physical violence, but for that of a bursting heart-and yet, when the time came, that is not what happened. Frears put the pin back in the grenade, as it were,” said The New Yorker.